Former Kentucky high school star Damien Harris ‘has full movement’ after NFL neck injury
Buffalo Bills running back and former Kentucky high school football star Damien Harris was “heading in a good direction” Monday after suffering a neck injury and leaving the field in an ambulance during Sunday night’s NFL game against the New York Giants at Orchard Park, New York.
“It’s my understanding he has full movement,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said after Buffalo’s 14-9 win. “Fortunate that he is seemingly heading in a good direction, with the reports we are getting. So I am very thankful to God for that.”
Harris was hurt as he was tackled by Giants linebacker Bobby Okereke on a second-quarter rushing attempt. Harris’ helmet appeared to hit Okereke squarely in the left shoulder. Harris lay still on his back on the turf for several minutes. Players on both teams gathered on the field as members of the Bills’ medical staff examined him and placed him on a stretcher.
Harris gave a thumbs-up before being placed in the ambulance and taken to a hospital for further testing.
On Monday, ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reported, citing a source, that Harris was released from the hospital. Fowler said the running back was experiencing some neck pain “but otherwise is going to be fine.”
Harris, a Richmond native, rushed for 113 TDs and more than 6,700 yards while at Madison Southern High School in Berea, and was named the Paul Hornung Award winner for the 2014 season. After a recruiting battle between Kentucky, Ohio State and Alabama, Harris went on to star for the Crimson Tide where he rushed for 1,000 yards and 11 TDs as a junior and won two national titles.
New England drafted Harris in the third round in 2019 and he played four seasons with the Patriots before joining Buffalo as a free agent last March. The 26-year-old has rushed for 2,188 yards and 21 touchdowns across 44 career games that include 34 starts. This season with the Bills, he’s had 23 carries for 94 yards and a touchdown.
Sunday night’s frightening scene on national television occurred nine months after Bills safety Damar Hamlin suffered cardiac arrest on the field during a Jan. 2 game in Cincinnati, requiring emergency medical responders to resuscitate him. Hamlin made what his doctors called a remarkable recovery and has resumed his NFL career. He played in a regular season game this month. Hamlin was on the Bills’ inactive list for Sunday’s game but was on the sideline when Harris was injured.
After Sunday night’s game, Bills teammate Dion Dawkins expressed the emotions running through the team — again — during a frightening on-field moment.
“It’s really an emotional thing, and people be trying to act like we’re unhuman like ... that stuff is real. It’s very real, and Damien’s our brother,” Dawkins told ESPN reporter Alaina Getzenberg. “He’s our friend, and we know him personally. To see him laying down ... he just found out two days ago that he was having a boy. They said that it was a neck injury. Imagine if he can’t hold his son off of one play? That’s scary man. It’s scary. And I take it for what it is, and I take it with respect of God, but like any moment, it could be it.”
